Very, very new! Advice much appreciated!

[Cygnus]

Hello all! I'm very new to all of this.

I have a bit of a black thumb and kill off houseplants in general, but I've developed an affection for my orchid because it seemed to be getting along very nicely with my lack-of-watering schedule.

It was your dimestore gift orchid, white with purple veining and spots. Lovely.

A while ago I noticed that it appeared "dusty", then cobwebby and looking closer I noticed bugs. I googled, found I had mealy bugs and did what I could to remove them. In the meantime my blooms and some of the lower leaves fell off. The stalk is yellowing at the top and drying as well. I was googling whether or not to cut the stalk and found this site so I'll be cutting above the last node I think the term is, below which is still green.

In an effort to completely eradicate the mealy bugs I sprayed all crevasses and everywhere I could get with rubbing alcohol, I wipe with a clean damp cloth whenever anything looks slightly white.

Yesterday I "repotted" it into its old pot. It was potted in moss and I stripped as much of the original moss away from the roots as possible. They all look good, so I'm hoping the mealy bug infestation wasn't originating too much from there.

I washed and sanitized the clay pot and inner plastic one before replacing as much moss as possible to re-pot. I didn't water it over-much when I replanted because the remaining roots and moss were quite damp from when I watered it before pot removal.

I re-sprayed the plant and every bit I could see of the roots with rubbing alcohol. (Rubbing alcohol being what I saw recommended on google. I hope I haven't killed it!)

I'm thinking of trimming the stalk down today, but I'm wondering if it would be too soon after the re-pot to do so. (Are they prone to shock?)

Also, any other recommendations for the mealy bugs and general care?

I have no mold or obvious smell or bacteria or fungus or anything. It really seemed happy before the darn bugs but since I'm betting it came home with the bugs it's been dying by inches since.

It's lost about 3-4 leaves, it has about 3 now that look nice and healthy, but again the stalk is withering.

Sorry so long of a post, but I appreciate any advice.

I was thinking of getting more orchids seeing as how they got along so "well" with me but then all of this happened. And as I understand it the bugs will spread to other orchids even if not kept nearby so I don't want to being a new one home to the same fate.

Thanks SO much for any help!

[Izzie]

Welcome, Cygnus!
Sounds like you're on the right track with the disinfecting. I'll let others chime in with more nit-picky details.

Don't let this scare you off, orchids can be very rewarding, and can be much hardier than you think!

One thing, I'm sure people would appreciate seeing pictures of your repotted orchid, just to get a visual.
It sounds like you might have a phalaenopsis?

[Izzie]

This page on AOS offers some advice about pests and mealy bugs, as well as how to treat with alcohol.
AOS | What's wrong with my orchid?

In the future, you might consider just dabbing with a Q-tip or cotton ball. Never use more than the regular grocery store 70% iso. alcohol.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

If you watered the roots prior to "stripping the moss from the roots". They'd be a lot easier to remove.

The roots are also less prone to breakage when wet.

[Cygnus]

Originally Posted by Izzie

Welcome, Cygnus!
Sounds like you're on the right track with the disinfecting. I'll let others chime in with more nit-picky details.

Don't let this scare you off, orchids can be very rewarding, and can be much hardier than you think!

One thing, I'm sure people would appreciate seeing pictures of your repotted orchid, just to get a visual.
It sounds like you might have a phalaenopsis?

Thanks for the reply.

It has no flowers at the moment to post pictures of, but I believe you're right about it being a phalaenopsis. I looked it up and the flowers and leaves look identical.

Here is a picture of it while naked. Sorry it's not the clearest.



You can kind of see where the stalk is withering. The leaves are still happy.

It has roots sticking out all over the place and the pot was very full of roots, should I move to a larger pot even?

Thanks. I'm still debating on cutting the stalk but hopefully the picture helps a bit.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

That's a lot of moss!

The pot's also very large for the plant.

This setup will rot the roots out because the potting media will retain too much water for way, way too long.

I recommend using medium grade or large grade bark instead. If you need to use a thin top layer of moss to retain moisture because your growing area is arid, then so be it.

Other than that, the size of the pot needs to fit the size of the root mass. There shouldn't be that much room for the roots.

This is a pic of a Phalaenopsis in the wild. It should give you an idea of what you're dealing with.

Healthy phal on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Cygnus]

Thanks for the reply. The root mass pretty much filled the pot on its own, it was a big mass. The plant used to have like 7-8 leaves. I did over-moss it a bit to cover the top of the roots that were everywhere because I didn't know whether or not they're okay to be so exposed?

I've been reading threads a bit and I've seen some suggestions about using coconut husk chips. I have a hermit crab colony and use it religiously so maybe I'll re-pot and try with my orchid.

Thanks for the link.